I have already sent an email on Monday am to 2 of your colleagues about this – and as yet have had no response…other than an auto-reply email saying that one of them is away and out of the office…I have called their number earlier today – and had no answer.

It also seems that some of my supporters were unable to exercise their democratic vote for me on Thursday 8th June due to your other error with the postal votes and also another informed me that they were denied to be able to vote at the polling station itself. It does not surprise me that now you have the Election Commission and watchdog now investigating this shambles.

It is clear that even our Newly elected Rt Hon Luke Pollard MP does not hold any trust in you or your team…and if we are to hold another election in the near future and I feel the same way.

The fact he spent some of his first day in Parliament discussing your failures with other MP’s from various parties who expressed their concerns to him about how the election was run in his constituency, does not bode well.

Understandably it is worrying that if this [or any other failure and mistake] occurred 2 years ago when the difference was just 523 votes…in favour of the Conservatives…very concerning considering that this Council is currently run by the ‘CONservatives’.

Furthermore I wish to make the following points and observations;

There were 9 hustings for this constituency and I knew / eventually found out about 6 – I sat on the panel for 3 [and was censored on one] I was not made aware of the hustings at all 3…as a candidate I find this undemocratic.

I tried to request the use of a public room to meet the public – yet the phone number I was given did not work and no one replied to my emails about it.

You never introduced yourself to me at any stage; communicated with me in anyway and completely ignored me on the evening of the count? Could have something to do with the fact that a few weeks ago I have made a significant insurance claim against the Plymouth City Council for my unlawful bankruptcy which I am about to have annulled via the high court…perhaps this could be viewed as a ‘conflict of interests’?

Perhaps there are now grounds for a fresh claim – I’d certainly be keen to see the insurance details the council has for its coverage of ‘completely messing up a general election’ – probably under the same policy – ‘Professional Indemnity insurance’

It is pure incompetence and an absolute shambles that these mistakes have been made and it casts doubts on your ability to manage the election process fairly and democratically [and mathematically] in the future.

So, Polling station cards mistakenly sent to postal voters, then 1,500 postal votes lost, then voters turned away, then removing 330 from the register itself…then not including a full wards count into the final return…and then announcing a FALSE final return…I don’t think you could have got much more wrong.

I knew on the night that the final count was wrong; the moment you announced and published the final numbers I knew they were wrong…[see the attached scan of my tally] As you can see from my 8 numbers given by your colleagues on the evening from each of the 8 different wards within the constituency. This proves that I can add up – but your team and spreadsheets and computers cannot. I did feel like tapping you on the shoulder on stage – but felt considering the circumstances you’d probably think I was extracting the urine. Just one look at the turnout figure surely should have made someone question the final numbers – it was that obvious.

The complete cock-up with the 6,500 votes missing from final result has been acknowledged as a cataclysmic error and I can only agree; but it was the just the wet icing on a very badly burnt; tasteless and horrible cake.

At least one thing is now certain from this Election – we have a much better representative in Parliament than we previously did – so in terms of positives that is the 1 we can take from this – and the fact he now has a significant margin and almost a thousand more than was thought on the night. [morning]

I suggest that under the circumstances; with everything consider and as a member of the public [and a Parliamentary Independent Candidate] I hereby ask that you should resign from your CEO role as you are clearly a liability.

From a legal perspective I am now considering my options; although this is not something I want to waste my time doing [but will if required] although as I am reasonable, I would be willing to perhaps consider settling out of the court with the council for a ‘medium’ 3 figure financial sum as an immediate full and final remedy to this matter.

Therefore, treat this legal notice as a letter before action [as per the CPR rules]; as being a candidate for this farce of an election and with the above mentioned points considered including the incorrect return with was published and announced by yourself has directly caused myself a lot of alarm & distress.

I also expect Councillors; John Riley UKIP [Democracy & Governance] & Patrick Nicholson [allegedly in charge of Elections] to seriously consider their positions and perhaps resign and allow someone more competent to fill these roles.

Can you also confirm for me that you will NOT be receiving any sort of ‘bonus payment’ or ‘extra money’s’ within your obscene six figure public pay for overseeing a general election as the acting returning officer?

Clearly with all these serious mistakes, which you are liable for – you should not be entitled to any ‘bonus’ and you should resign with immediate effect.

I have ensured I have cc’d in DC Paul Manifield whom I shall be emailing directly to ensure that there has been no breach [by yourself or and of your staff] in regards to the legislation which governs these matters as that would clearly then become a potential criminal matter which in some instances carries a heavy fine.

PS – During my brief and very limited Independent Campaign in this constituency I made a video on Accountability in Public Office…it’s worth the watch…and very…relevant.

Plymouth City Council – some facts and figures

Plymouth City Council’s ‘LOBO’ loans

Plymouth City Council currently has 14 active LOBO loans totalling £100million [as you can imagine this takes up a chunk of your Council Tax payments] Interest rates on the loans vary from 3.65 per cent to 4.82 per cent, and most of the loan agreements run for between 60 and 70 years.

It is understood that councils face expensive exit fees if they wish to get out of the loans.